5/11/2016 we had a good sized group at Brothers
2, with 23 of us, lots of brew talk and great beer.

Adam HawleyDonna & Bernie Kordula James Dunn Koenraad Gieskes

Jim Burt Steve
Button Roger
Haggett Bob Ciesla

Chris Hritcko Dave King (2) Rich Andel Josh Sember

Ray CoreyDave
RussellIke
YochelsonDan Koller

Joan King Matt
Farrell Becky
LawsonMarty Mattrazzo

Tim Eliot Jim &
Melissa Lawson

Tap
NY was a blast at Hunter
Mountain, April 23 & 24.Your
President helped Marty, his brother and a 2 friends, pour 4 of his great
beers.Check out the video on the web
site.Marty took home a medal for his
Belgian Tripel, Crazy Daizy!

Speaking of Marty, he did his
talk for us, on Malting, amazing how
complicated it can be, so many variables and affects, made my head spin.He says Farm Breweries in NY State must use
40% NY State ingredients next year, and unless something wonderful happens,
there won’t be enough for most of them.6 row barley is apparently easier for the farmers to grow than 2 row,
but most brewers don’t want 6 row.He
says our hang-up with 2 row malt is misguided, since there’s not much
difference between 2 row and 6 row barley, after about 40 years of selective
farming of 6 row.

Summer Fests are coming up
soon.Mom’s House Food &
Beer Fest was held May 19, with many of us entering our Homebrews.Food samples from 10 local restaurants were
served, and beers from all 5 of our local breweries, too, all for $25/person, a
great deal, and everyone had a great time.Rich Andel took the top prize, and James Dunn took 2nd in the
Pro Brewer judging.Very proud of our
brewers!Our Donna Kordula brought 2
awesome cakes, too.We netted over $3500
for Mom’s House, and had a great time.I’m sure they’ll do it again next Spring.

The NHC
is in Baltimore, there’s still room to attend, and room in our car for the ride
down (June 7 to 12).Club Night should
be a blast, with BIER serving at least 5 beers.

Marty – The Elliot, Oat Vanilla
Stout, yummy vanilla flavor in a stout with lots of body.The vanilla makes you think sweet, but it
really isn’t.This is yet another fine
example of Marty’s creative brewing.

Adam – Columbus Pale Ale, all
late hopping, nicely done, that’s such a great hop.

Marty – Commander Bovine, his
double IPA, fermented with an East Coast Ale yeast and Brett, all base malt,
with Cashmere hops.A big pitch of Brett
with lots of O2 makes it clean, but ferment quickly.This is your President’s favorite at
Farmhouse.

Dave King (2) – Red Eye, a red rye IPA, 20% rye malt,
Marty’s 2 row base malt and lots of hops, early and late, with the new hop back
used to infuse Centennial and Citra, same as the dry hop.This was served at the Mom’s House Fest and
will have a place at the booth at the B’more NHC Club
Night.

Great beer, fun time. Thanks to Fil for allowing us to meet at the Brothers
2, great place, great beer, great food.

Don’t forget, if anyone wants to write a review of a pub, a brewery, trip,
etc, please do so, and send a copy to Josh and Me. We’ll get it on the
web, you’ll be famous. Next meeting is June, 15th at Brothers
2.Yes, this is the 3rd Wed.,
due to the National Convention being the 2nd week of June this
year.If you know Koen
or Steve Button, tell them I need their e-mail addresses.They joined BIER, but I can’t contact
them.